While ice skating is one of the most fun activities you can do with your kids, the learning curve can be very steep, especially for very young children. Everyone has their tips on how to teach younger children how to skate, but only a few really do work. In this article, we’re going to give you a few simple techniques that should help your child get closer to becoming pro skater in no time.

Make Sure the Skates Fit

First you all, you have to make sure that your kid has the right gear. One of the biggest challenges with ice skate rentals is finding a pair that fits snuggly. It’s very important to choose a pair that will fit your kid’s feet like a glove to prevent any kind of injury and to give them maximum stability.

Take your Time

Not all children are the same and not all learn at the same speed. Some kids may pick it up in a few days while others can take much longer. Respect your child’s learning speed and don’t push them, or you could end up ruining their experience and they might lose interest in skating altogether. Also, just because your neighbor’s kids learned to skate at the age of three, doesn’t mean it will be the case for any kid.Some might be comfortable at an early age while for others it might be wiser to wait until they’re of school age before you teach them the rudiments of ice skating.

Be Safe and Get Plenty of Off Ice Training

When skating with children, do not carry them under any circumstances. As a matter of fact, this is banned in most skating rinks. The same goes with baby carriers. Also, make sure that you invest in a helmet to prevent any kind of head injury.

And don’t jump on the ice as soon as they put their skates on. Make them practice off rink first. Teach them how to stand up, how to walk around and even how to fall and get up. When they fall, teach them to get up from a crawling position, as that will be very useful once they get on the rink. You should also teach them to get into a safety position when they feel they’re going to fall. Teach them to bend their knees and put their hands on their knees if they feel they’re going to fall, this will increase their stability.

Conclusion

These few tips should help your child learn to skate in no time. Make sure that you choose the proper skates for them to ensure stability and make sure that they don’t have an injury. Also, make sure to take baby steps at first and don’t rush them. Get some off-rink training and teach them the proper position and how to be stable on skates. Then you can move on and teach them how to skate on ice.

You should also consider enrolling your child in skating classes. Most rinks will offer skating classes for children three and up. This is the only way to ensure that your kid learns the proper technique and does not develop bad habits later on.

Do you know what I like most about The Olympic Games? I love how our family sits together every single night for 2 weeks for 2 hours plus. That never happens!

We are a huge sports family. There is always a kid playing something and we always have tickets to the next local sporting game. My boys live, talk and breathe sports. They were really looking forward to The Olympics soccer teams for both men and women.

This year will be P’Diddy’s second year on a real soccer team and he can’t wait to begin. Everyday he asks, “Did my coach call yet to tell me what team I’m on.” Out comes the cleats, skin guards and me driving to practices each evening. The fun he has is worth all the work!

Swimming has been another one we are closely watching. My six year old has been active in swim lessons all summer and has really done quite well. Now watching the professionals like Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Dana Vollmer (did you see her interview the other night with her little cutey?) has been awesome. He pays close attention on how they dive in and how they do those turns.

Walmart and P&G are big supporters of Team USA. Check out all the products on this Walmart page that you can grab either online or when you are in store.

Many of the athletes are partnered with P&G brands like Dana Vollmer promoting Pampers for her son and soccer star Alex Morgan featuring Always Infinity Pads. Yes mamas I know you need these each month and now you can say you support The Olympics too!

These are made with super absorbent, yet super light material called FlexFoam™ that can absorb 10X its weight. If I’m not using my cloth pads, Always is always my go to when I need disposable. They really do hold up great.

How is your family supporting The Olympic Games this year?

Do you have a favorite event you are paying extra attention to?

This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks and P&G with Walmart. All opinions and stories are my own that I write.